Shutter device for gas-engine radiators.



' C. NIELSEN. In. SHUITER DEVICE FOR GAS ENGINE RADIATORS.

Armcmpu HLEI) m1. 18. I914.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

(717152701? zelsenJz 6 Q; I J 29127.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTIAN NIELSEN, JR.

, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHUTTER DEVICE FOR GAS-ENGINE RADIATOR S.

To' all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN NIELSEN, J r., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shutter Devices for Gas-Engine Radiators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which'form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a novel device, in the nature of ashutter or shield for regulating the passage of air through the radiator of a motor driven vehicle engine, the regulating elements of the device being actuated to open and close the shutter by thermally operated means under the control of the temperature of the cooling agent of the engine.

To this end an air regulating device or shutter embodying my invention embraces, in general terms, a series of movable shutter elements preferably placed in front of the radiator, and so arranged that when in one position air may pass therebetween to the radiator to cool the cooling agent which circulates through the radiator and the cooling circuit of the engine, and which, when in another position operates to .cut off the passage of air therebetween to the radiator, and a thermostatic element which is located in such adjacency to the radiator or to a part of the cooling circuit of the engine as to be under the influence of the temperature of the cooling agent which is circulated through said' circuit. Said thermostatic element is opera tively connected with the shutter elements in such manner as to cause the shutter elements to open when the cooling liquid reaches a predetermined temperature, and to cause said elements to close when the temperature of the cooling agent is reduced to a given point, said shutter elementsbeing adapted to assume various positions of partial 0 ening within the range intermediate the se ected higher and lower temperatures. 'As a' result, when the engine is cold the shutter elements will shut off the passage of air to the radiator, and thereby conserve the heat" of the engine until the engine parts are warmed, and when the temperature of the cooling agent reaches a certain point the shutters will begin to open to admit air to the. radiator to coohthe said cooling agent.

Specification of Letters Patent.

The device is especially useful for winter drlvlng and in cold climates, inasmuch as it enables the engine, to promptly assume its normal Working temperature when starting the car and also prevents the engine from bethis character which operates to automatically admit air to and cut air off from the radiator to correspond with the temperature of the cooling fluid of the engine.

A further object of the invention is to .pro-' vide a simple and economical device of this character which, as a unitary structure, may

. be applied to any standard radiator.

A further object of the inventionis'to provide means whereby the shutter elements may be manually opened .and closed; independently of the automatic actuating devlce.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916'. Application filed A ri11s,191'4. Serial No. 832,701. i

' The embddiment of the principles of my I invention herein shown is recommended by reason of its simplicity, the ease with which. it may be applied to the radiator and the- It willbe i understood, however, that so far as the,

economy of the construction.

broader features of my invention are ,concerned, the. device may assume other specific forms which fall within the spirt of the claims hereto appended. The specific description of the embodiment herein shown is not, therefore, intended in itself to limit the scope of the invention.

As shown in the drawings':Figure 1 is a front elevation of a motor vehicle engine ra- .diator, with my improved shutter device applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical ,section "thereof, on the line 2-.-2 of Fig. 1 showing open and closed positions of the parts in dotted and-full lines, respectively; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary rear view'of the thermostatic element and adjacent parts of the shutter elements. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view sim- 'ilar to Fig. 2, showing the manual operating member in position to actuate theshutter device by hand.

As shown in. the

drawings, 10, 10 designate the shutter elements which, as hereln shown have the form of slats and are arranged to extend horizontally across the radiator 11 at the front end of the engine hood 12. Said shutter elements may be made of sheet metal and are supported in a rectangular frame which comprises side members i 13, 13 and top and bottom members 14, 15',

members of the frame. The shutter elements or slats 10 are pivoted to the side members 13 of the frame through the medium of the usual trunnions. They are connected so as to operate simultaneously by means of a connector bar 20 at the rear thereof which is apertured to pivotally receive arms 21 that extend inwardly from the shutter slats.

The thermostatic element which operates to open and close the shutter slats may be of any preferred construction, and may be connected in any suitable manner to the shutter slats. As herein shown, it consists of an expansible fluid tight cell 25 which is adapted to contain a suitable volatile fluid, which sensitively expands under heat, such as ether, mercury or the like. The said cell is arranged in front of and closely adjacent to the upper front wall 26 of the radiator so as to be in the influence of the heat of the engine cooling agent and to be thereby controlled. The said thermostatic element is inclosed within a casing 27 which is supported on the top member 14 of the shutter frame and is attached thereto in any suitable manner. It is open at its rear side and is closed at its front and peripheral edge. As herein shown, the thermostatic cell is arranged between front and rear spider plates 28, 29, the ends of the arms of which are fastened together about the peripheral edges of the cell. The said thermostatic cell is fixed in the inclosing casing 27 by front and rear, vertically arranged bars 31, 32 which are attached in any suitable manner at their lower ends to the upper shutter frame member 14, and may be' brought together at their upper ends over the peripheral edges of the cell to give general U-shape to the supporting cell frame. The rear plate 29 is riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the rear bar 32, as shown in Fig. 2. The front bar 31 of the cell supporting frame extends through the front wall 34 of the inclosing casing 27 and lies principally in front of said wall as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The said front plate 28 is made of spring metal and is bowed or dished inwardly at its center, as shown in Fig. 2, and the cell, when expanded, is expanded against the yielding action of said plate. The connection between said thermostatic cell and the shutter slats is herein shown as made as follows: 36 desigdesignates a link which is pivotally con nected to said lever adjacent to its pivot or fulcrum 37 and said link extends at its inner end inwardly through the front wall of the casing 27. and is attached centrally to the front, centrally depressed or concave spring plate 28. 40 designates a hand lever which is pivoted at 41 to the thermostatically actuated lever 36. It lies at the side of the said latter lever and extends down wardly beyond the lower end, thereof and is provided at its lower end with a hand piece 42. The said hand lever is operatively connected with one of the upper shutter slats of the series by means of an arm 43 pivoted thereto and a bail 44 which is pivoted to said lug and to the upper movable shutter slat.

An interlocking connection is provided between thethermostatically actuated lever 36 and the hand lever 40, so constructed and arranged that, when the lever 36 is swung outwardly, upon the expansion of the thermostatic cell, the hand lever is interlocked therewith and also swung outwardly so as to open the shutters. This connection is detachable, however, so that if it be desired to close the shutters at a time when the thermostatic cell is still expanded, the said hand lever 40 may be detached from the lever 36 and operatedlto close the shutter slats independently of the lever 36. As a means for effecting this result, I have herein shown the hand lever 40 as provided on its side adjacent to'fhe lever 36 with a projection 46 which is adapted to enter into a socket 47 in the lever 36 when the lever 36 is swung outwardly. The parts are assembled so that the hand lever is normally pressed with a yielding engagement against the lever '36 whereby the projection and socket automatically snap into engagement when the lever 36 begins to swing outwardly. The hand lever, however, by yielding lateral movement thereof, may be disengaged from the thermostatically actuated lever at a time when the latter lever is swung outwardly, so as to thereby close the shutters. A loop 48 is arranged to limitthe outward movement of the hand lever and thereby limit the movement of the shutter slats.

In order that the heat from the cooling liquid in the cooling circuit of the engine may be efiiciently transferred to the thermostatic cell, I have provided the rear wall of the cell with a plurality of conducting fingers 50, 50 which are attached in any suitable manner to said wall and extend rearwardly therefrom. Said arms are provided with inwardly turned terminals 51 which are adapted to bear against the front wall 26 of the radiator. These conducting fingers are made of copper or other good conducting material. Furthermore, in order to transfer the heat to the front side of the thermostatic cell, I may make the inclosing casing 27 of a like good conducting material and provide the annular wall of the casing at its rear margin,'with a wide. radial flange 52 which also lies against the front face 26 of the hood Wall. 4

When the engine is cold the thermostatically actuated lever assumes the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, and the slats are closed. When the thermostatic cell is heated by heat transferred from the cooling.

temperature conditions are maintained in,

the engine to insure efficient operation thereof.

Heretofore, it has been a common practice, in order to conserve the heat of the engine and to maintain proper operating temperature conditions to provide hoods which are applied over the front of the radiator, and which, in some instances, are provided with flaps which may be manually swung upwardly to more or less open the radiator for the passage of air therethrough. A disadvantage of the use of such hoods is that constant attention is requiredto maintain them in adjustment for elficient use. and it is practically impossible to maintain approximately proper adjustment. As a result, there is too little or too much air admitted to the radiator, thereby rendering the operation of the engine ineflicien't'and una shutter device of given dimensions ma;

be well adapted to radiators of varying d1 mensions. In instances where the radiator is located back of and at the side and top of tlie hood, the shape of the shutter frame will, of course, be varied 'to adapt the same thereto.

I claim as my invention V .1. An'automatically controlled air shutter device for standard vehicle gas engine radiators comprising. a frame, with means to aflixit to and across the front of the radiator hood or casing, shutter elements supported on said frame and extending across the front of the radiator, spring re- Q strained thermostatic means supported on said frame and held thereby against the radiator Wall so as to be controlled by the temperature of the engine cooling agent, and operative connections between the thermostatic means and the shutter elements and connected between j the restraining spring of the thermostatic element and the shutter elements.

2. An automatically controlled air shutter device for vehicle gas engine radiators comprising, in combination with a circ'ulating passage for the engine cooling fluid, a frame adapted to extend across the front of the radiator, with means to attach it to the front ofthe radiator casing, rocking shutter elements mounted at their ends in the frame and extending across and in front of the radiator, a thermostatic element carried by said frame and applied to the front wall of said circulating passage, and thereby controlled by the temperature of the en- 'gine cooling fluid and operative connections between the said thermostatic element and V the said shutter elements.

3. An automatically controlled air shutter device for motor driven vehicle engine radiators comprising shutter elements, a

thermostatic element controlled by the temperature of the cooling liquid for the engine, a thermostatically actuated lever connected to and actuated by said thermostatic ele- I ment, and a hand lever pivoted to said ther-- mostatically actuated lever and connected to said shutter element, with means to detachably'connect the hand lever to said thermostatically operated lever, whereby the shutter elements may be manually controlled independently of the thermostatically controlled means.

4. An automatically controlled air shutter device for motorv driven vehicle engine radiators comprising shutter elements, with means to support the same across-the radiator, a thermostatic element supported within the influence of-the heat of the engine and ,operatively connected to the shutter elements, and-a casing of conducting material inclosing said thermostatic element and provided with a wide heat conducting flange.

5. An automatically controlled air shut.- ter device for motor driven vehicle engine radiators comprising shutter elements, with means to support the same across the radiator, a thermostatic element supported within the influence of the heat of the engine and operatively connected to the shutter elements, a casing inclosing the front and edge parts of the said thermostatic element and open at its rear side and conducting fingers connected to the thermostatic element for conducting heat from the engine to saidit no disconnect the hand lever from the thermostatic means to operate the shutter elements by hand.-

In, testimony, that I claim the foregoing 1' as my invention I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 6th day of April, A. D. 1914.

CHRISTIAN NIELSEN, JR. Witnesses:

N. LULAY, M. A. GRoBL. 

